Reflection Desktop VBA Guide
Key Concepts / Understanding Syntax
Understanding Syntax

Every keyword Help topic includes a syntax line that defines the syntax rules for that keyword. Following are some guidelines for understanding and using correct command syntax in your Visual Basic macros:

The method and property signatures displayed in the Reflection VBA reference section typically refer to an object. For example:

object.GetText 

The syntax you use to reference the object in this signature depends on whether you are calling the method from a Reflection macro, a session created at runtime, or a macro developed in another application, like Excel.

Let's take a look at how to use the syntax displayed in the Help for the GetText method.

The Reflection VBA Help displays the following syntax for the GetText method:

We can see at the top of the Help that this method is a member of the IbmScreen object so this is the type of object in the signature (displayed as object.GetText under Syntax).

It's a good idea to verify this membership by looking at the member list for the object.


 If you are developing a macro for this session, you can use the ThisIbmScreen property to get this object.

The syntax for using GetText in a session
Copy Code 
'You can reference this object directly 
Debug.Print ThisIbmScreen.GetText(1, 1, 50)

'You can also reference it using a With statement
With ThisIbmScreen
    .GetText(1,1,50)
End With

    

If you are developing a macro for a session that you create at runtime or a macro created from another application like Excel, you'll need to do a little more work to get the screen object before you call GetText.

The syntax for using GetText in a session created at runtime
Copy Code 
Private Sub CreateReflectionIBMSession()
  Dim app As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject
  
  'Declare frame, terminal, and view object variables:
  Dim frame As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.frame
  Dim terminal As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts.IbmTerminal
  Dim view As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects.view
  Dim screen As Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Emulation_IbmHosts.IbmScreen
      
  'Create New instance of Reflection
  Set app = New Attachmate_Reflection_Objects_Framework.ApplicationObject
  
  With app
    'Wait until the Reflection is initalized
     Do While .IsInitialized = False
       .Wait 200
     Loop
      
     'Get a handle to the frame
     Set frame = .GetObject("Frame")
      
     'Make the frame visible so we can view the workspace
     frame.Visible = True
  End With
                        
  'Create an Ibm3270 control and set the host address
  Set terminal = app.CreateControl2("{09E5A1B4-0BA6-4546-A27D-FE4762B7ACE1}")
  terminal.HostAddress = "demo:ibm3270.sim"
  Set view = frame.CreateView(terminal)
  'Get the IbmScreen object
  Set screen = terminal.screen
  Debug.Print screen.GetText(1, 1, 50)
  '.........

End Sub